Lemonade stand protest Thursday in Manteca

Wednesday

May 14, 2014 at 3:00 PMMay 15, 2014 at 10:35 AM

MANTECA— Seniors from the Manteca area will be selling lemonade in front of Kaiser Permanente Manteca at 11 a.m. Thursday to protest what they call an escalation of cuts in patient care services at the facility, located at 1777 W. Yosemite Ave., though Kaiser officials dispute their assertion.

The Record

MANTECA— Seniors from the Manteca area will be selling lemonade in front of Kaiser Permanente Manteca at 11 a.m. Thursday to protest what they call an escalation of cuts in patient care services at the facility, located at 1777 W. Yosemite Ave., though Kaiser officials dispute their assertion.

Kaiser officials refer to the lemonade stand as a "stunt" and say it comes at the direction of an aggressive nurse's union.

Proponents of the lemonade stand say that Kaiser continues to cut service.

“If Kaiser refuses to reopen critical hospital services here in Manteca, it could be the difference between life and death for our seniors,” said Amy Glass, an RN who works at the facility. “Many of our elderly patients are unable to travel to another county for hospital services. This is wrong, especially when Kaiser could provide the services here in Manteca.”

Counters Corwin Harper, Kaiser Permanente senior vice president and area manager for the Central Valley area:

"We have no intention of shutting the doors on our presence in Manteca.Many of the services the California Nurses Association is asking Kaiser Permanente to 'restore' in Manteca were never actually offered by Kaiser Permanente in Manteca."